Every volunteer organization I have ever worked with has a problem. Or two, or three. Mostly, volunteer organizations have volunteers – a form of human. When there is something of note that happens, generally the volunteers hear it first out on the street, and in 100% of cases, the telephone principle applies – a standard human communication process. While ‘data’ is transferring from one volunteer to another, the message becomes distorted, confused and different than when it went in. Usually, the largest distortions come from volunteers who are narrow minded, negative or desiring attention, where the simplest piece of data can become the largest of misrepresentations. This “volunteer intelligence” serves only to cause division and discontent. Without discrimination, this applies to every volunteer organization, regardless of size, purpose or intent.
In truth, the number of volunteers who engage in this kind of politics are a small percentage, yet are the noisiest. Unfortunately, this can impact another major problem of volunteer organizations – that of finding new volunteers. And in the community in which we are engaged, the demographic, along with the AS/400 name, is aging and losing their passion for everything except retirement. Any suggestion of negativity can cool their heels more, leading to the usual attrition of volunteers being larger than the incoming batch. Apparently, this has been the case in the last week or so, with the responses to some of the more well known speakers at COMMON blogging about their choice to not speak at the next COMMON Annual conference in Orlando in 2010.
My involvement in the community has been more noisy than some, without doubt. What that does afford me is an opportunity to speak to the constituents at user group meetings and conferences around the world. Earlier this year, I presented the keynote session at the Connections conference – an in-your-face session about finding your passion for your job – again. It was my attempt to entertain while offering a different perspective on the industry and your career, while stirring something in the attendees. I was encouraged by several of the responses, one of which offered a renewed vigor for his job and a desire to “go out and do something for the community”. One down, several hundred thousand to go!
Two weeks ago at the inaugural COMMON Africa event in Johannesburg, I presented a similar session. The audience were quite the mix of ‘old’ and ‘new’. Many long time members of the community were eager to restart this new effort to engage the community, exchange information and promote the platform. Add to that a group of students and YiPs from local universities who have been learning RPG, and I discovered a major lode of that passion of which I had been speaking! What a joy to see the energy surrounding that event, and what a pleasure to be able to soak in it. I wish it could have been bottled and brought back to North America.
This inaugural event, and the surrounding energy, brought me back to my first involvement in user groups in our community. It started with a local user group in Texas, and spread to COMMON. During my first COMMON conference, I was recruited (ok, I did say yes) to volunteer and I was hooked. The sense of community was strong, and the event was boisterous, fun ~and~ educational. Some of the speakers were well known, but every one of them donated their time to the education process. Looking back, these were definitely the glory days.
COMMON then settled into a rhythm of two conferences a year and some of those speakers found that COMMON had boosted their careers. I certainly benefited from that exposure – in retrospect, volunteering at COMMON has proven to be one of the steps to improving my speaking skills and has raised my visibility in the community. There were many speakers, some of them (ex-)IBMers, who moved on to have successful speaking careers, and many well known speakers who just moved on. Most of them were sadly missed by their friends, their fans and conference attendees, but regardless, COMMON moved along. New speakers filled in the gaps for missing sessions, and in a few conferences, those who were previously “well known” were “long forgotten”. This is the nature of volunteer organizations, and is definitely one of the cultural traits of COMMON. As recently as a couple of years back, a so-called “famous” industry expert attempted to make a lot of noise about their choice to leave COMMON. It made little difference to the event as their sessions were filled in by other volunteer speakers, and their own profile continued to be stroked with continued internet exposure. Nothing changed, COMMON moved on.
The recent stirring in the community about the choice of our well known speakers not attending the next conference has been very different. There is a lot of misinformation, negativity and ignorance about their choice, and even with their explanation and clarification, the noise has been disturbing. Yet somehow, this is different. With attendance being markedly different from 2009 compared to 2008, some people predict the demise of COMMON, even though declining attendance is an industry trend, and attendance in the previous conference years had been relatively consistent. Of course, the news from COMMON at their Meeting of the Members in Reno in April about changes to the organization, driven from a financial perspective, has definitely contributed to the noise and speculation.
But, there is no difference. COMMON loses and gains volunteers and speakers every year. While the reduced size of the IBM i industry continues to contribute to fewer people to volunteer, and Web 2.0 and social networking contributes to reduced attendance at face-to-face conferences, there will be volunteers to step into the shoes of exiting speakers. Certainly the education will be different upon removal of some of the leading educators in the field, but remember, this is a user group – it was designed to provide an exchange of information among user group members. Undoubtedly, COMMON will continue to provide that experience for some time.
And there is the rub. With such important community members discussing their reasons for not speaking at the next COMMON Annual Conference, it is important for the organization to sit up and listen. Not to the noise and negativity from the naysayers, but to the perspectives of long-time volunteers who, themselves, have been strong contributors to the organization over many years. This is definitely not the status quo of speaker attrition, and it most definitely warrants understanding.
Which brings me to the reason for this post. For many years I have been a volunteer at COMMON. Certainly, the organization is like every other volunteer group, with its passion and strength offsetting a modicum of noise and negativity. With the internet providing fertile ground to sow discontent, COMMON faces some of the most intense misinformation campaigns from ignorant (lacking in knowledge) community members it has ever faced. With a reduced community, COMMON has to morph and evolve into a new organization that leverages on all its strengths, while becoming agile and relevant for our future.
Before the decisions to cut COMMON volunteer benefits were made, I decided I would run for the board. I felt it was time to contribute directly to the future of the organization, and I was subsequently elected. To that end, this blog entry has been difficult to write, as I strive to properly represent this opinion as solely my own, and no reflection of the COMMON board, staff or organization. And I remain committed to that goal. Over the last few years, with my involvement with the COMMON Community and Networking group, I have seen the evolution of the Annual Conferences from flat and educational with lackluster social events to educational, fun, passionate, joyful, inspiring and full of ‘user’ involvement, new volunteers, and more reporting than for some time. I am encouraged by the Young i Professionals who have grown out of the COMMON organization to a world-class representative body for the next generation of Power Systems and IBM i computing professionals.
It is my belief that I can best contribute to the i community by being an advocate for the platform, a contributor to the cause, and a volunteer for COMMON. For all of you who have a volunteer bone, throw up your hand and help us morph this industry into a strong future. Certainly, change is required, and is happening, at COMMON. Attention must be paid to the opinions and perspectives of industry leaders, and care needs to be taken to avoid the rantings of the ignorant and misinformed. Intelligent, informed, creative decisions are needed, and you can help this cause.
I ask, what can you do? Read the thoughts from our well known speakers who are not attending the 2010 COMMON Annual Conference, and you will see they have made a contribution. They have engaged in their own debate, and offered their thoughts without negativity and clouding of the truth. Where are your positive suggestions that can be offered to the COMMON organization? When someone offers their well thought out opinion, do you add value, or add noise? Are you vocal and hiding behind your keyboard, or are you willing to put your brain into gear, and think about solving the problem rather than interpreting the situation with a narrow and undeserved viewpoint? Are you engaging in the telephone experience, or are you searching for truth? It is time to stop the whining, and get on with the doing.
You can order yours here or see me at one of the iConferences or user group meetings I attend. First one to receive these wonderful buttons will be COMMON South Africa!
Note #1: iGeeks are upgraded to igenius…
Note #2: iGuru is still considered exceptionally rare…
I am enjoying my latest conference and user group presentations, usually titled along the lines of “How to be an IT Survivor” or “When I Grow Up, I Want to be an i Programmer”. Given there is a lot of apathy and lethargy in our community, it is a chance to stir a little passion. Remember that buzz you got in your first coding jobs? Tap into that for a moment, and see if you can find it again.
It certainly has been well received, but there does seem to be one thing I missed. I discovered that hole during a panel session I was moderating this week at an i conference. There were a lot of questions about what should and could be done about the shrinking numbers of i developers. The answer from the panel, as is usual, covered the IBM Academic Initiative. There seemed to be a lot of interest from the audience, and, as is usual, everyone thought it would be a great idea to have their local college, or local community college, be engaged in teaching RPG, IBM i, etc.
And the conversation went around and around. And the complaints continued. While we all love love love the platform, there are not enough people who know about IBM i, not enough new programmers working on IBM i, not enough, not enough, not enough… So, I asked everyone in the room – about 40 or so, some questions I have used with the i community in the past. I had just not paid attention to the answer.
The questions were:
“How many of you have talked to your local college or school and encouraged them to teach IBM i and RPG?”
“How many of you have hired interns from local colleges to work with your IT department with IBM i and RPG?”
“How many of you have told someone outside this community about this amazing platform?”
“How many of you have posted something on the web about how this amazing platform?”
And the answer?
.
.
.
.
A deafening silence….
.
.
.
.
What commentary can be made here? Are we, as a community, really missing the point by THAT much?
What is obvious is that a majority of the i community are complaining bitterly about many things – name changes, lack of IBM marketing, shrinking market, smaller numbers of resources, greying of the i population, and so on and on and on. What is now obvious is that the same complainers are simply not DOing anything about it.
Are they willing? I am not sure…. I do know that when I asked those questions, everyone was very uncomfortable, which made the deafening silence become very cold. Does this mean they will now go out and DO something? We hope for that result. Does this mean they will complain less? Most likely not. Does this mean they will remain uncomfortable, mired in their own insecurities and talk about how they were pissed off at this event? Closer to the truth, maybe..
How about you? Are you a complainer, who can reform and become a doer? Are you sleeping at the wheel, and watching the IBM i platform swim right past you into the drain? Are you willing to DO something? Are you willing to ask questions, offer your teaching services for free, preach the i gospel? Every change starts with a small step. Make YOURS today. Make a difference….
For business partners, there are some certifications that are required in order to sell Power Systems. The current two that I need are: 973 – IBM Certified Specialist – Power Systems Sales for IBM i Operating System and 974 – IBM Certified Specialist – Power Systems Technical Support for IBM i Operating System. I passed the 973 two weeks ago, and missed the 974 by a little. Yesterday, the deadline looming for the certification, I attempted again. While I improved my score with all the study, I did not manage to pass the test. In the past, information about tape solutions does not fit in my head, and the test managed to include way too many of those questions. Of course, while we only sell Power Systems 520s, the test requires you to know all about the entire product line – is there some way I can be certified to be a technical expert on the 520 only?
During my study, I was appalled at the horrible inconsistency in IBM’s documentation. If we are up to date, the platform includes Power Systems hardware, and the operating system IBM i – the current version being 6.1. The previous release of the OS was i5/OS at V5R4 and the previous generation of servers were System i. IBM, having changed the platform, forgot to change the references to the platform. It is easy to tell when the old manual was copied into the new manual. Take, for example, the IBM Power 520 and Power 550 (POWER6) System Builder, in which the following references can be found (and not just in the trademark section):
V6R1
V5.4
i5/OS
OS/400
eServer
iSeries
pSeries
System i
System p
AS/400
AS/400e
RS/6000
S/38
Ouch! Sure, some of the references are correctly referring to a specific feature available for a previous generation server or OS, but this is NOT the Power Systems and previous versions System Builder. All throughout the training material I reviewed and the entire IBM online reference library, there is an unbelievable amount of out of date and incorrect information relating to something as simple as the names. If IBM were to understand customer service, let alone marketing, this would have been a number one priority for them. Customer service example number 1 – fail.
An interesting requirement of certification is that you cannot take the same test within 24 hours of failing. This meant the second test was unable to be scheduled online. The testing facility told me to come in, and they would handle it from there. I arrived, we attempted to schedule me, and learned of the other requirement that got in my way – a test cannot be taken more than twice within a 30 day period. This is good, since it can combat some of the test thievery that is happening on the web (wow!), but it does nothing to help me meet my deadline. Should I have known about this? Of course. And, buried somewhere in all the information about the certification process, I am sure this is available. Somewhere. Given that it is a rather important requirement, it might have been possible for this to be listed in a more important location, rather than finding out that you cannot take the test after arriving to the test location. Customer service example number 2 – fail.
The ironic part of finding out about this last hurdle was that the testing facility I attended was actually closed today. When I turned up, the testing room was dark, however the receptionist was waiting for me. Since they had committed to me on the phone yesterday that I could turn up today and schedule the test, they kept their word and opened the office just for me. They made the effort, only to be rewarded with a denial to test me. Customer service example number 3 – pass.
I find customer service to be about keeping your word, thanking you for your business, and treating you – the customer – as important. And, of course, the same applies to each of us when we deal with customers. While it is difficult to impress upon the IBM bureaucracy the importance of, how a simple thing as a name can make a difference, and how communication can make a difference, it is more important for our dealings every day with our ‘customers’ to provide service.
I have been travelling all over the planet recently, busy with work, consulting, strategy (major fun) and attempting to write the core of several books all at once. In the meantime, blogging has been happening… but without complete blog entries, I have not posted. Watch this space for some new and cool things!
You should also read the discussion on the LinkedIn IBM i Professionals group titled “What’s Wrong With Us?“. I started it because I am really finding that the iCommunity is so disjointed and so out of touch, that we are digging our own grave. You will enjoy some of the banter – feel free to add your own!
Just now (not the South African version of that saying), I read this on Midrange-L: “On 9/1/09 10:00 AM, someone wrote: Can my current HMC, which controls our i, be used to control the new pSeries that we’re about to install?“. It took ALL my strength to avoid posting this response: “Wow! You are getting a ~new~ pSeries? IBM hasn’t sold one since 2006, so where did you get it from? Maybe we can write an article on how you obtained it, and who the supplier was. This time travel stuff is fantastic!”
Several naysayers have popped up recently predicting the imminent demise of the i platform. There is no doubt there is a decline in the numbers of i customers. Without a concerted effort from the community, this decline will be sooner than we like. It is time to get off our collective behinds and do something to slap ourselves around a little. “Make some noise” has been a theme of my stirring for some time, and it is about to get noisier!
Forums and blogs on the internet provide a means for people to offer their opinions in one form or another. Some people have the balls to have a blog that speaks their mind, and for which they take responsibility. Others do it with a pseudonym (er…. yeah), some of which are transparent (you know who I am), and some are hidden behind a fake identity for some kind of protection. The excuses range from “I don’t want my boss/company/spouse to know” to “I don’t care”.
There are other people who hide behind a fake identity and have no balls to write their own blogs, but simply troll other blogs or articles and comment (a verb?) their opinion from behind that fake identity. These people tend to miss some interesting and obvious facts, but of course, it does not really matter, they are protected behind their chicken coop walls, sprouting their pseudo-opinions.
Take for example, the recent Maxed Out article about Japanese iVendors starting a push to market the i themselves. Up popped a pseudo-opinion that claimed “IBM’s i is dead”. The irony of a claim that ~x~ is dead on a forum/article that is geared towards ~x~ was not lost on me, and I responded. Of course, my response was ignored and further psuedo-opinions were offered later in the thread, with a bunch of ’statistics’, none of which are verified or have sources. I guess if you are willing to hide your identity, then you can hide the truth by making some up.
I have recently been studying ‘Logical Fallacies’. The Skeptics Guide to the Universe says “A logical fallacy is a false or incorrect logical principle. An argument that is based upon a logical fallacy is therefore not valid.” My favorite logical fallacy is ‘Ad hominem’: An ad hominem argument is any that attempts to counter anothers claims or conclusions by attacking the person, rather than addressing the argument itself. I may even be indulging in this blog entry!
While logical fallacy is used regularly on forums, blogs and comments, most people continue to indulge. Separating the debate from the fallacy can sometimes be difficult. It might be simpler if there were internet police! Of course, this would mean restriction of free speech, and while I sometimes find I want to edit or remove comments from forums I manage, it becomes very obvious very quickly as to who has something valuable to say. The most difficult part then, is weeding out the noise.
A discussion on a LinkedIn forum to which I belong is another example of noise generation. A commenter, who obviously has passion for the topic, posted strong opinion. My responses were as strong, but opposing theirs. And then they disappeared. In this instance, the reply was not pseudo-opinion, and the poster was not hiding their identity. There are many reasons for a lack of response from someone on a forum. I have sporadic access to the internet this week, and have not been able to be as active in some places as usual. Yet, it seems that most non-responders hide for other reasons.
In this particular case, I was disappointed at the lack of response. In the past, such strong opinion has offended, causing responders to lash out, hide, or both. Often the hastily produced opinion is full of emotion, and not well thought out, and cannot be supported any longer. Yet in debate, acknowledgement of an error or acknowledgement of an opposing point of view is straightforward, and can move the debate along. The wonderful world of forums and blogs provides us with a means to run, without completion of the discussion.
I pledge that I will continue to check myself for misuse of logical fallacy, will offer correction when I am wrong, and work towards a completion of an intelligent debate. Feel free to identify when I leave something unfin
Today, I was told that due to IBM’s “abysmal marketing”, our platform was suffering. On top of that, said critic went on to tell me that he no longer had any loyalty to the IBM brand. In addition to my frustration, I became quite animated in my response. Yet, he really did not deserve my passion.
The photo for this blog entry was one I took at COMMON a couple of years ago. One of the attendees, a formidable RPG programmer in his time, had stolen some time in an almost secret place, to have a quick snooze. This tired and worn out programmer came to mind today while I listened to the ranting of the IBM critic. There are so many of our community who are just going through the motions of their job, waiting for their retirement, or their firing. In an earlier post titled Narrowosity, I proposed that we recognize the business acumen of the long-time RPG programmer, and transfer that knowledge to the youth of our community – those with enthusiasm, vigor and a willingness to learn.
Today’s conversation was all about brick walls. The critic had something negative to say about everything IBM had done in recent years. And, upon some digging, I discovered it was all about the fact that IBM had not done things the way he thought it should happen – hence, everything IBM had done was ‘wrong’. I asked him this specifically – did he think IBM’s marketing was abysmal because he had not seen it? His answer was affirmative. Digging further, I asked if he thought he considered himself a demographic to which IBM should market? He admitted that IBM should not be marketing to him, and I suggested his reasoning of why IBM marketing was abysmal was based on a flawed premise.
We discussed his perception that IBM had changed the name too many times. I mentioned the new Power Systems servers being a merger of i and p – not just a name change – and he spat back with an interesting question. How was he supposed to know about that? At that moment, I realized the futility of my defense of the platform. If he was not willing to stay abreast of the industry which provided his livelihood, then he truly had signed out, and was waiting for the terminal to be switched off. I had no business in dragging him back to a reality from which he had escaped.
I was interviewed for a recent article, in which many questions were raised on how to maintain your career and keep your job in these ‘troubling’ economic times. Of course, the most simple solution is to spread confidence wherever you go, but getting over your own negativity is a hurdle most people are unwilling to jump.
After reading the article, I reconnected my thinking to my earlier idea that injecting enthusiasm into many people in our industry would be difficult. Certainly, there are many who have turned on the screen saver of negativity and hopelessness. But for those who are simply frustrated at the lack of positivity around them, I believe there is some hope. Mostly because, these people are geniuses at what they do, and need some connection to the passion of their own start in I.T.
It is a simple answer. Take one enthusiastic, upcoming developer. Find one iGenius with an outlook of despair and gloom. Call the latter a mentor, and connect the two. This equation will definitely result in one young improved business analyst iDeveloper. And maybe, just maybe, some of that enthusiasm and vigor will rub off on the iGenius. Who knows, they may stop saying “AS/400″!!
There may not be much time before all the iGeniuses actually retire, and we are left alone with the critics.
Having been involved in several volunteer organizations over the last few years, I have discovered many similarities. I have identified four major groups of volunteers that are engaged in the activity. First, those whose entire identity is wrapped up in the task at hand. Second, those who have a need to belong to something, and this will do. Third, those who volunteer for the goodies – read, rewards. Fourth, those who do the work.
COMMON, A User’s Group (by name) is an organization that includes a lot of volunteers in most of its activities. Most of those are users with a common focus – primarily IBM Power Systems, and for most of its history – primarily IBM i. However, the volunteers come in many shapes and sizes in terms of what they offer, and it is one organization where there are not too many of the volunteer types 1 and 2.
Once upon a time, when COMMON was obviously a user group, and the twice annual conferences were a place to gather the user community together, volunteers were the heart of the organization. Eventually, the organization grew enough to engage a management company to facilitate the events, the membership etc. When COMMON felt like it could walk on its own two feet, it established its own staff for the management process. This allows COMMON to do much more than a regular user group, and it has become somewhat of a fixture in the iCommunity. The Annual Conference provides education that is unparalleled in its breadth. The Expo that is held with the Annual Conference is the largest in the Power Systems community.
So, what does that make COMMON now? There is a perception that it is not a user’s group when it seems to be run by a full-time staff. It offers credits to volunteers to help them to be engaged in the management of the events. It offers credits to speakers who are volunteers so they can afford to attend the conferences and teach the members. Attendees are not always members before they attend, and most of them are unaware of the additional cost of becoming a member that is attached to their conference registration.
Whatever COMMON has become, it is an anomaly in the Power Systems community. It has a similar model to the SHARE (z-related) user group, however, it also offers education outside of its annual conferences – again, appearing to compete directly with other education providers. Yet, most of the education providers in the iCommunity are prominent at COMMON. Which means, they consider it important to give back to the community, and consider COMMON a community organization.
And now, COMMON has reached a point where its financial future is in question. At the recent Annual conference, the Meeting of the Members (MOM) was the scene of the announcement of the drastic measures taken by the board to reduce costs for the next year. The members were told that this step was taken to allow COMMON to continue to pay its bills and secure its future. The reaction at the MOM was somewhat muffled and careful, and in fact, several members thanked the board for their openness in presenting the details in that manner.
Since then, there have been several reports by press and bloggers on the future of COMMON. Several prominent speakers and industry leaders discussed the fact that they were now being asked to pay more in order to attend and speak. The responses to their discussions have been all over the spectrum of shock, resignation, and support. And, one pundit was heard to comment on the ‘declining attendance’ of COMMON. Much of the information being spread has been very one-sided, albeit not overly negative.
This bodes well, I think. COMMON has a ominous task ahead. It must survive this recession, embrace the glorious past and and create a future that supports the needs of the members and the community. What that will be is to be decided by the board of directors who represent the members. Under these circumstances, there is a lot of advice from members, and the board has the responsibility to reflect the needs of the members and the organization.
While the ‘declining attendance’ story is simply not fact – attendance had been increasing recently, until the 2008-9 recession hit hard – it is important that current members maintain their support for COMMON by continuing to volunteer, providing more of their time (where they can) during this transition period, solicit support for COMMON from fellow members of their community, and market the educational and networking value of the COMMON conference events to their management.
One fellow speaker told me directly that their time was on offer to COMMON. Their contribution was to give of their time as a volunteer, but their personal finances were not something that could be rearranged to offer COMMON more than their existing commitment. Many of the key speakers have been reimbursed in one form or another by COMMON for their attendance at conferences, and given the recent changes to that policy, their personal costs would increase substantially to attend and speak. For speakers who attend on their company’s dime, this is less off an issue. Yet, if their company relied on that reimbursement to send that speaker, the costs have now increased for them as well.
For conference attendees who are not volunteers, the current set of reimbursement policies has no impact. Given the current economic outlook, most education conferences and events are expecting an increase (possibly small) in 2010, and if that holds true, how does COMMON tap into that? The difficult part is to counter the conversations about not being able to afford going to the next annual conference, with some positive conversations about the future of COMMON.
What is obvious is that, while some speakers will be unable to attend the next annual conference event, the effort of volunteers at COMMON seems to be undiminished. Many speakers who are personally responsible for their own attendance costs are volunteers inside the COMMON team. Their commitment to the organization, regardless of their possible attendance at future conferences, is strong. This story MUST be spread. This is the story that is one of the most effective marketing tools available to COMMON. This story is the positive twist needed to counter concerns that COMMON has no future because some of the same speakers won’t be there.
Without doubt, the next conference will be a challenge to schedule. With the reduction in the number of sessions, and a potential reduction in some name speakers, the education team will be working hard to provide a conference that includes a wide range of choices, with some in-depth education, and great speakers that provide excellent education value to the attendees. As a user group, there are many resources from which to draw. I say… watch this space.
In the meantime, what are you doing about the future of COMMON? What is your contribution? Can you give more time? Can you spread the word about COMMON, about its conferences, about its webcasts? Who are you going to call and talk into volunteering their own time? How many of your local user group events will you attend and talk loudly about COMMON? Can you spend some time to give back to the community that has been your life for this long?
Aaaah, the wonder of the internet! The power of allowing the masses to voice their opinions. Once upon a time, one had to make an effort and write/type the letter, stamp the envelope and mail it to a newspaper. Letters to the editor are still revered in some circles, but the internet, that wondrous internet, drags that genre into the pond.
Not only do comments on internet news articles and blogs provide a voice for the ignorant (read ‘uneducated’), they seem to even have mastered their own blogs. It is such a slog to filter these looking for actual education, intelligent perspective and positive opinion. Worse, it is disappointing that there are sheeple who follow the trail of the ignorant, and thrive on negativity, conjecture, speculation and sensationalism.
Take the recent Swine Flu epidemic. Apparently, if you read the noise, this is a politically motivated pandemic. Depending on how narrow and to which side the typist belongs, this was caused, exacerbated, and solved by the party to which they do not have an affinity. My favorite comment on a Yahoo! News report titled “Obama vows tougher overseas tax policies” goes like this (complete with punctuation, grammar, but quite well spelled): “taxing them is way overdue. bush let these a****** get by without paying any taxes while outsourcing american jobs. if youre an american, you should be pissed that other americans lost their jobs so these greedy bastards could manufacture crap overseas at slave labor rates and then ship it back here to sell to the same americans whose jobs were given to foreign slave labor. if people would quit buying cheap crap from walmart chinese factory outlet and the government would start taxing these outsourcing slime companies, it would send a message. and if they go under, who gives a s***”. Trying to make sense of this comment can cause brain confusion. Please do not attempt interpretation when compos.
Back to the IBM i world where the ignorant claim fealty, yet complain about the ‘name change’. Not stopping to read of the merging of the platform, they rush through their typing so they, too, can express their opinion. For the most part, these ‘experts’ remain ignorant and negative – not even the act of typing their uneducated spew results in any kind of cleansing. In my blog entry ‘Narrowosity‘, I whined about the whiners (ok, so I had a positive suggestion) and, since then, I have become more sensitive to their complaints.
In fact, at the COMMON Annual Conference last week, the IBM i Q&A session was quite the success. Held in a smaller room than the glory days of Town Hall meetings or Sound-Offs, and later than the Opening Session, the people who had something to say to IBM made sure to attend. Instead of being on a stage or on elevated stools, the IBMers were sitting in the front of the room facing the audience. The session was intimate, the IBMers were dressed casually, and there was so little tension.
Yet, at the Meeting of the Members later in the week, there was a complaint about the Sound-Off not being scheduled. I expect the complainant did not care quite as much as he espoused, since he did not make the effort to read the schedule and find the appropriately-named ‘IBM i Q&A’ session – in fact, the same name as the 2008 conference session. Yet, he still had to register a complaint. For me, he joins the ignorant in their quest to dumb down the planet.
What was enjoyable about the IBM i Q&A session was the commitment from the IBMers who were there. They are all dedicated to the IBM i, and to the Power Systems on which IBM i runs. They work hard, receive little, or no recognition for their efforts, for their loyalty, for their talents, and for their dedication. While IBM may be the target of much noise, angst, negativity and slamming, very few people in the iCommunity consider that we would not have IBM i without them. And these are the people who are being held responsible for every one of IBM’s perceived sins.
From me, I thank them all. They are the reason many of us are still employed. They fight for IBM i inside IBM – not for themselves, but for the future of our platform. Maybe, just maybe, if enough of us were to recognize them for their efforts, it might have an impact in combatting the noise pollution of the ignorant, the naysayers, and those looking to glorify themselves alone. Of course, we don’t want to stop calling IBM out and keeping our positive voice heard. But, let’s change the culture of anti-, and make it one of pro-.
Picking up a car from the airport, I overheard a conversation which included those words. It seemed inappropriate to me, until I discovered ‘lucky’ was a pet.. I laughed out loud, to the confusion of the other people in the Avis line. It was then I realized I had been happy a lot this week. This 2009 COMMON annual conference was quite an amazing event.
Arriving in the post-conference relax-a-little hotel in South Lake Tahoe this afternoon, I asked some of the people in the elevator about which conference they were attending. After identifying their organization, they commented that it was down about half – “due to the economy”. Almost every conference I have heard about recently has suffered a similar ‘fate’. Yet, the energy and enthusiasm at the COMMON event was rather incredible.
One indication of the upbeat nature was the positive reaction from the expo vendors – the majority of whom considered the audience to be more highly qualified than they had expected. Another was the number of attendees in the PowerDowns – the evening social and networking events. The camaraderie and networking was a wondrous sight to behold. Despite the economic climate, this conference can be considered as one of the best from COMMON.
Personally, I lived and learned a lot this year and during this week. In February I was thrown a very special surprise birthday party and was honored by the very special guests who attended – my friends. Right before that party, I was diagnosed with third nerve palsy on my left eye that caused double vision. The hospital visit for the tests to discover the cause meant I almost missed my own birthday party. I was assured that my friends would have had my party regardless, celebration or wake! I saw how amazing my friends were, and how true. With a loss of vision, I have clarity. I am honored.
This week, one of my least favorite activities was to get punched in the face – with a concrete floor. During breakfast on Thursday morning, I fainted and went down. I recovered quickly, but it was my friends who came to my aid, and my friends who checked up on me for the rest of the conference. I am honored.
The importance of friends became more apparent when I inadvertently spoke some words to a friend of mine that were extremely inappropriate, questioned their integrity, and caused a rift between us. My realization of the complete inappropriateness of my words was a revelation, and the struggle to regain the confidence of my friend was difficult. Because we were friends, we had a chance to connect and resolve the logistical differences, and most importantly, understand that their integrity was never in question. While the emotional pain will take time to heal, I am confident our friendship will be stronger. I am honored.
Another honor this week was to be voted to the board of directors. While I have been given no specific instructions on how I must or should behave, my approach is to be the best for the organization as my skills and talents will allow. This requires listening to the members (some of whom happen to be my friends), being impartial, seeing the big picture, applying creativity and common sense to the tasks at hand, being strategic and tactical, and making the best contribution I can. I am honored.
And then, the last smack in the face – I was warned by a fellow member about my board activities. Their suggestion was that I should be careful not to do anything that would be to the benefit of my friends and, by implication, to the detriment of the organization who has trusted me to be on their board. It has taken me some time to come to grips with this statement, but clarity has reigned. Not a single one of my friends would ever accuse me of a bias like that, and in fact, most people who know me understand the level of integrity to which I aspire, and would never accuse me of this bias. I am now forearmed about those who have ulterior motives, and this is empowering. In spite of the (completely unnecessary) warning, I am honored.
What ~I~ learned this week – I got lucky. My friends are not only important, but trust me, understand my integrity, and treat me with respect. It is mutual.
This past week has been a revelation. It has been full of i discussions, and speculation on everything in the IT world. As yet at the annual COMMON conference, I have not seen much of the larger Power Systems community, but the i Community is in its usual impassioned state. And, there are two sides to the conversation.
On the one hand, there is the IBM i community. I consider these people to be enthusiastic, evangelistic, positive, willing to learn, and moving in a forward direction. On the other, there is the AS/400 community – a group divided. While most of its members are mired in the last century (no AS/400 has been sold brand new in this, the 21st, century), some of them have no idea that this is unusual. Some of them want to move forward, and have no idea how. Some of them are stubbornly sticking to their glorious past, hoping (beyond hope) that IBM will fix its “errant” ways and rename the platform so their personal limit of change is no longer tested. Some of them are just narrowly living a life that is of their own creation, and some of the narrow are just simply whiners.
In the past week, the whiners have had a field day. Speculation on what Oracle will do with MySQL has produced such narrow minded stupidity that it is laughable. Whining about the travel to get to Reno for the conference has been quite the entertainment. It has been easy to spot those who are simply reporting on the travel, because it lacks that underlying drone in the back of my head when I read how the whiners had to wait longer than expected in an airport because they were too cheap to fly a real airline. Even the coffee has produced its naysayers, and when the wifi was non-existent and reported upon by several, the whiner drone appeared again to sully the actual dialog.
Fade to another dinner with a group of people who are somewhere between the IBM i community and the AS/400 bigots. It was suggested that IBM had no strategy for IBM i. Upon further discussion of the separation of hardware and software, and a revelation – to them – how the Power Systems announcement was not just another name change, and the switch was made to the IBM i mindset. It was suggested that I may be able to talk to every AS/400 customer on the planet individually, and I am waiting for that phone list from IBM as I write this.
One more fade to the YiPs. Their enthusiasm and pleasure of working on the IBM i platform is unbeatable. It is reminiscent of the passion and joy experienced and expressed by the AS/400 community when it was first announced. Oh, the places you can go! Oh, the things you can do! They are a shining example of how to conduct oneself in the IBM i community – with fervor, intelligence, flavor, color, and passion! Personally, I am proud of their achievements, and most importantly, inspired.
My first question in the last few days was about getting that enthusiasm back into the AS/400 community, with a little education on the power of IBM i on Power. It took just one whine from one whiner, and I realized that is one of the most difficult tasks on the planet. Certainly, we should never stop trying to modernize the AS/400 community to become the IBM i community and move into the future as strategized by IBM. There will, however, be many left behind. Those who never read an industry magazine. Those whose bosses are DP Managers from the 70s, living on the 00’s. And the whiners.
The conclusion is not yet formalized anywhere, but seems simple. Let us take the skillset of the AS/400 community – that business acumen inside IT that is rare under any other roof, add it to the enthusiasm and energy the YiPs bring, and move into a future that as rarely been envisioned until now.
It is unfortunate that the whiners make the most noise. On the surface, they paint our entire community with a brush that is truly unrepresentative. For those who are not, and those who are not vocal, let us drown out their negative personal narrow narrow narrow noise with positivity.
Reading the various internet news this week raised my curiosity. While the internet has allowed many people to voice their opinions (including this one), the press should maintain some level of independence in their reporting. Which means, being accountable to the facts, and keeping the spin out of the story. Yet, along with good grammar and decent spelling, facts are hard to come by.
The first concern was about a report on our first back-in-action blog. This attention is flattering, and certainly follows the “any press is good press” rule. However, the report was not accurate. One paragraph started: “Last month, I spoke at two modernization events in South Africa“. The next paragraph began: “This week, I spoke with a customer who has an iSeries.“
In the report, these two paragraphs were connected with: “In South Africa, Perry spoke with companies still stuck with AS/400s, coding like it is still 1999, and in general, not keeping up with modern technology. As a result, one IT director there felt he had two options — outsourcing the System i work or moving to a Java-based application infrastructure.“
The cause of the confusion was that the second paragraph is about an iCustomer in New York state. Surely the reporter could tell that? A review of that entry revealed that is was not clear of the location, but maybe the time frame could have revealed some clue? In any case, there is a lesson here for writing blogs that will definitely be used in the future.
The second concern was a report about a new software solution. It began as though it was a news report, then these words were thrown in: “No fewer than five companies have been working closely together for nearly a year to bring the creative yet cost-effective solution to market“. How many are “no fewer than five“? This is the kind of ‘reporting’ that turns an article from news to marketing spiel. And, a reporter might have said it was “low cost”, while a marketer would use the words “cost effective” – the latter being not factual in this case, given that the solution is new and not yet proven to be effective, let alone cost effective.
Whatever the reasons, in both cases the truth was obscured. This approach of over-reporting does seem to be rampant in our world. Check out the James Randi youtube video included below for some interesting insights on this phenomenon. You will find a ton of information there!!
Maybe this is why our platform continues to be misrepresented in the ‘press’. Those who would have the business of converting from IBM i to an alternate platform have a lot to gain. There is one company well known for its complete and utter misrepresentation of the state of IBM and IBM i, but the FUD it generates causes questions that are difficult to counter.
I am dedicated to being more diligent with this blog, and to spreading the IBM i word with professionalism and truth – along with opinion to add flavor and spice. I encourage the reporters of our world, and the other bloggers in our space to raise the standard of our voice in the IT world.
After attending the first World Science Festival in 2008, I follow the twitter and email for information about the 2009 festival. Today, I received this tweet:
I followed the link to a local newspaper site, and began to read. By the end, I was confused – there was no mention (in the article) to the town in which the event was being held. I did not know where Randolph College was, so I searched the web and found this home page. Not being able to find the location of the college from that page, I clicked on About Randolph. No mention there, so I clicked Visiting, and saw the words “Lynchburg and the Region”. Now I was getting somewhere! At the bottom of that page, I clicked the link for Location and Directions to Randolph, and finally discovered that Randolph College is located at Rivermont Avenue, Lynchburg, VA.
I considered this to be reminiscent of when I travel in the US and see an ad for a phone number without an area code. All the local people already know the area code, but being from out of town, I have no idea. I guess they don’t expect out-of-towners to read that ad! When a local newspaper writes an article, they would assume no one from out of town would read the article. By placing that ad on the web, they probably are not expecting the world to see their words, so it is not necessary to write locations inside the article.
Then, I took a backpedal. On a newspaper, there is a masthead, with the name and location of that paper. Was there one on the website? There was!
And right there, it has the location! I missed that…. How about the website for Randolph College? I scrolled down to the bottom of the home page, and, there it was!
I learned two lessons here. First, don’t assume everyone knows your backstory or location. Second, there is a lot of information readily available to us, if only we would look.
I know that a lot of the world does not understand the power of IBM i. The backstory and location are not very well known, and are confused by the stigma of ‘old’ that is attached to a fabulous heritage. It may take some writing to the world (oh yeah, the internet) for that story to be better known.
And, for those people who remain solid AS/400 resources, we have to reach out to them and show them their future – something it seems they cannot readily see in the world around them.
These two lessons will go a long way to engaging the entire IBM i community, and investing in our future.
A friend recently told me that after Kurt Cobain found Nirvana, it was all over. Since we are being told by IBM that EGL is nirvana, many of us expect it to be all over very soon.
And now there is an “IBM i Modernization Summit” that purports to be “a workshop sponsored by IBM Rational directed to leading professional software development organizations and designed to help us understand and validate how our solutions can truly help these organizations achieve their goals”.
Everything we hear in the IBM i industry from the Rational EGL proponents is that EGL is the answer to all our woes. In fact, we often hear that RPG is dead, and EGL is the answer, then we hear Rational deny that this was spoken. We see EGL being sold as Java, then hear denials of that sales pitch. Overall, EGL is being sold like snake oil, and that does not feel right in any way.
I spoke with an EGL customer the other day, and their observations were that EGL is not delivering the way that Rational promised. An expectation of being hidden from the core languages was dashed – they have found that EGL requires serious Java skills. The additional layers of infrastructure required by an EGL implementation have caused major pain when it comes to debugging and testing the ‘new’ applications. The lack of integration tools to the back-end applications on IBM i have caused major rework of the back-end modules, increasing the length of development time beyond a reasonable web-based application development cycle. Overall, the customer feels that Rational has sold them a bill of goods and has not delivered.
Another confusion is the approach that all IBM i customers should convert to EGL means that RPG needs to be converted to EGL, which then generates code in COBOL and Java. I cannot imagine that to be a sound investment for any modernization approach. Of course, the confusion is higher for IBM i COBOL companies who are being told to convert to EGL, which generates COBOL… WHAT?
Along with the suspicious snake-oil approach, the fact that in five years or so of the language there are only 36 success stories, and the requirement to convert your languages back to themselves, the confusion about EGL grows.
IBM tells us that RPG is supported for the long term. The IBMers who tell us that are believable, trustworthy and their experience and background with IBM i leads us to believe they are genuine. Then Rational – an IBM company – tells us we should abandon RPG. It is time for IBM to establish a unified approach – one that is reasonable, supportive of the IBM i community, and does not require us to pay through the nose for a new and improved Rational developer toolset.
During the hiatus of Angus, a major event occurred. IBM announced the Power Systems line of servers, running AIX, IBM i and Linux. Major, because this was as large as the AS/400 being announced as the merger of the S/38 and S/36. The separation of hardware and operating system supports the future of systems as a commodity, and provides IBM i a future of being able to run on the mainstream server that IBM delivers.
Yet, a large proportion of the IBM i community remains unbelieving, skeptical and negative. All they see is that IBM has saddled us with another name to call this platform that we love. And of course, the name confusion simply clouds one of the most important IBM announcements in this century.
Last month, I spoke at two modernization events in South Africa. The midrange community there has been decimated in the last 4 or 5 years, and only about a tenth of the servers remain. New Power Systems may be sold there, but the IBM i operating system seems to be making no headway.
This week, I spoke with a customer who has an iSeries – referred to as “the AS/400″ – with a solid homegrown business application. While the 5250 programmers have been ‘encouraged’ to modernize and use the new Eclipse based IDE toolset, they still code with an approach that smacks of 1980. This leads the IT director to consider one of two courses – outsourcing the i team, or replacing the application with a Java based solution. The first is difficult to find, which leads him to believe IBM i has no future. The second does not require IBM i, since all his Java programmers understand AIX better and do not want to learn IBM i.
IBM also promised us that there would be marketing of Power Systems with all three OSs mentioned – AIX, IBM i and Linux. This promise remains unfulfilled on the outside of IBM, with no apparent marketing to support the premise that IBM i is the OS “for business”. Even the Power Systems home page at IBM does not show the three logos together.
It is no wonder that IBM i continues to be pushed out the door. Most people consider the AS/400 to be old and worthy of replacing with non-IBM i systems. Our community indulges themselves in the safety net of calling it an AS/400, only to find themselves without a job, and without a future.
Do we still have time to restore IBM i to the glory of the legacy it has left? Probably not… But we ~can~ turn around the impression that we work on an OLD system, with OLD tools, building OLD applications.
We must do at least these things:
Stop calling it an AS/400, iSeries, i5 or System i – in fact, just stop mentioning that the name was changed. Why pay attention to that? Talk about the strong heritage we have in AS/400 and System i, then brag about IBM i.
Stop coding like it is 1999. You know who you are.
Expand our skillset to include modern development paradigms – integrated development environments, new languages…
Use the right tool for the right job – not just the one you know.
Spread the word – positively, enthusiastically.
What can IBM do? Two things:
Live up to the marketing promise. Show IBM i in ALL the family portraits with the other children. Show the photo album to the world.
Require customers to move forward by dropping support for all the legacy compilers. Provide tools to migrate, and encourage upgrades with server discounts. Consider all the consulting work and server activity, and while it will cost customers an immediate investment, their ROI will be realized within a few years with highly reduced maintenance costs, and modernized applications.
Every volunteer organization I have ever worked with has a problem. Or two, or three. Mostly, volunteer organizations have volunteers – a form of human. When there is something of note that happens, generally the volunteers hear it first out on the street, and in 100% of cases, the telephone principle applies – a standard human communication process. While ‘data’ is transferring from one volunteer to another, the message becomes distorted, confused and different than when it went in. Usually, the largest distortions come from volunteers who are narrow minded, negative or desiring attention, where the simplest piece of data can become the largest of misrepresentations. This “volunteer intelligence” serves only to cause division and discontent. Without discrimination, this applies to every volunteer organization, regardless of size, purpose or intent.
I am enjoying my latest conference and user group presentations, usually titled along the lines of “How to be an IT Survivor” or “When I Grow Up, I Want to be an i Programmer”. Given there is a lot of apathy and lethargy in our community, it is a chance to stir a little passion. Remember that buzz you got in your first coding jobs? Tap into that for a moment, and see if you can find it again.
For business partners, there are some certifications that are required in order to sell Power Systems. The current two that I need are: 973 – IBM Certified Specialist – Power Systems Sales for IBM i Operating System and 974 – IBM Certified Specialist – Power Systems Technical Support for IBM i Operating System. I passed the 973 two weeks ago, and missed the 974 by a little. Yesterday, the deadline looming for the certification, I attempted again. While I improved my score with all the study, I did not manage to pass the test. In the past, information about tape solutions does not fit in my head, and the test managed to include way too many of those questions. Of course, while we only sell Power Systems 520s, the test requires you to know all about the entire product line – is there some way I can be certified to be a technical expert on the 520 only? 
I have been travelling all over the planet recently, busy with work, consulting, strategy (major fun) and attempting to write the core of several books all at once. In the meantime, blogging has been happening… but without complete blog entries, I have not posted. Watch this space for some new and cool things!
Forums and blogs on the internet provide a means for people to offer their opinions in one form or another. Some people have the balls to have a blog that speaks their mind, and for which they take responsibility. Others do it with a pseudonym (er…. yeah), some of which are transparent (you know who I am), and some are hidden behind a fake identity for some kind of protection. The excuses range from “I don’t want my boss/company/spouse to know” to “I don’t care”. 
Today, I was told that due to IBM’s “abysmal marketing”, our platform was suffering. On top of that, said critic went on to tell me that he no longer had any loyalty to the IBM brand. In addition to my frustration, I became quite animated in my response. Yet, he really did not deserve my passion.
Aaaah, the wonder of the internet! The power of allowing the masses to voice their opinions. Once upon a time, one had to make an effort and write/type the letter, stamp the envelope and mail it to a newspaper. Letters to the editor are still revered in some circles, but the internet, that wondrous internet, drags that genre into the pond.
Picking up a car from the airport, I overheard a conversation which included those words. It seemed inappropriate to me, until I discovered ‘lucky’ was a pet.. I laughed out loud, to the confusion of the other people in the Avis line. It was then I realized I had been happy a lot this week. This 2009 COMMON annual conference was quite an amazing event. 
This past week has been a revelation. It has been full of i discussions, and speculation on everything in the IT world. As yet at the annual COMMON conference, I have not seen much of the larger Power Systems community, but the i Community is in its usual impassioned state. And, there are two sides to the conversation.
After attending the first 
During the hiatus of Angus, a major event occurred. IBM announced the Power Systems line of servers, running AIX, IBM i and Linux. Major, because this was as large as the AS/400 being announced as the merger of the S/38 and S/36. The separation of hardware and operating system supports the future of systems as a commodity, and provides IBM i a future of being able to run on the mainstream server that IBM delivers.
